Beginning in April
1989, a series of mostly student-led demonstrations were held in
Beijing's Tiananmen Square calling for political reform, civil rights,
and economic freedom. For seven weeks, the protests continued to
grow in size. On May 20, Communist Party authorities declared
martial law and on June 4 the People's Liberation Army entered the
square and squashed the protests with live bullets, killing hundreds
(if not thousands) of protesters. Western governments strongly
condemned the brutal crackdown. In late 1989, Chinese authorities
arrested Chen Ziming and Wang Juntao, the two men they called the
"black hands" of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Chen and
Wang, who denied the allegations against them, were tried in 1990 and
found guilty of all charges. They were each sentenced to thirteen
years in prison.